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    by Published on Dec-11-2018 8:45am  Views: 28716 
    Bill Malone

    True Vine historian lending his voice to Ken Burn’s Country Music documentary.

    Photo credit: Bill Graham

    On a Wednesday morning, a master country music historian who has not shortchanged the mandolin sits behind a microphone. His insight from 85 years spent living and studying the "plain people's music" flows across the airwaves weekly from WORT, an FM radio station in Madison, Wisconsin.

    "That was 'It Ain't Gonna Rain No More,' recorded by Wendall Hall in the early 1920s," says Bill Malone, tall and still spry as he leans gently toward the microphone.

    You perhaps know the song's signature line from an old R. Crumb cartoon, or from listening to a version on the children's album by David Grisman and Jerry Garcia. Malone knows the song from its hillbilly music roots, or as the title of his enlightening 2011 book about Mike Seeger suggests, Music from the True Vine.
    ...
    by Published on Oct-16-2018 8:00am  Views: 91693 
    Andrew Marlin - Buried in a Cape


    Mandolin Orange songwriter Andrew Marlin is stepping out on his own for the new solo disc Buried in a Cape, a collection of self-penned instrumentals and modern fiddle tunes that shines a laser light on his prodigious eight string skills.

    As much as Cape is a showcase for Marlin's keen sense of melody and thoughtful technique, it is truly a group effort. With his producer's hat on, Marlin let his players fly, recording the entire affair in three days at Nashville's The Butcher Shoppe, which, the composer notes proudly, features the Ryman Auditorium's old reverb plate.

    "My mandolin was running through the same 'verb that, maybe, Bill Monroe's ran through!" he beams.
    ...
    by Published on Sep-25-2018 8:00am  Views: 75481 
    Andrew Collins


    Sixteen years ago I first met Andrew Collins in Toronto through the Mandolin Cafe's list of teachers. He was still in his early twenties and bursting with enthusiasm for the instrument and the music. One of the first things Andrew did was hand me his gorgeous Heiden F5 and say, "Try this." Since then I've seen a remarkably talented young musician grow into a masterful performer and a beautiful composer.

    Andrew established himself locally as the mandolin player for the popular bluegrass band the Foggy Hogtown Boys, and on a larger stage he made a name for himself composing and playing for the new-acoustic group Creaking Tree String Quartet. He made numerous recordings with both bands, as well as doing solo projects and working as a sideman for Annie Lou. He also opened his own recording studio and often teaches at Kaufman Kamp, Nimble Fingers, and elsewhere.

    In more recent days Andrew has been leading his own eclectic group, the Andrew Collins Trio, for which he plays mandolin, mandocello, fiddle, composes and sings. The Trio has twice won Instrumental Group of the Year at the Canadian Folk Music Awards. They tour frequently and have also been appearing at Merlefest and other festivals. Not long ago the ...
    by Published on Aug-28-2018 8:45am  Views: 90946 
    New Michigan-Made Northfield Instruments


    Many dialects are spoken in Marshall, Michigan, all of them musical — English, Chinese, Japanese, bluegrass, old time, choro, jazz ...

    Rochester, N.Y. native Adrian Bagale co-founded the Marshall-based Northfield Mandolins with acoustic designer Kosuke Kyomori and workshop manager Zhang Xi Sheng a decade ago, strongly believing, at least from the builder's perspective, in Longfellow's supposition of a "universal language." Bagale, a dedicated player who gigs occasionally, brought with him plentiful experience in the mandolin world, including stints with Elderly Instruments and Saga Music (which distributes Kentucky mandolins, Blueridge guitars and Gold Star banjos among many other products). He met Kyomori and Xi Sheng through those channels, on frequent overseas trips to oversee bringing Asian-made mandolins stateside.

    As part of the process the three men learned economies of scale. They learned what worked, and what didn't. ...
    by Published on Aug-14-2018 8:00am  Views: 51776 
    We Banjo 3

    L-R: David Howley, Martin Howley, Fergal Scahill, Enda Scahill. Photo credit: webanjo3.com

    Irish and American, traditional and contemporary, all come together in a way that defies any musical pigeon hole for the band We Banjo 3. By whatever name you choose to call it, the driving force of the band is the stunning virtuosity of the four musicians who form its core: Enda and Fergal Scahill (brothers), and Martin and David Howley (yes, also brothers).

    In between a full tour schedule that keeps them busy on both sides of the pond, the band found time to release Haven, their new album which features a collection of traditional and original tunes that continue to expand on the ...
    by Published on Jul-31-2018 7:15am  Views: 51283 
    Adam Tanner - A State of Grace


    Feast Here Tonight is a two record compilation, issued by RCA Bluebird in 1975, of the pioneering 1930s duo recordings by Bill and Charlie Monroe. As a teenage Northern California bluegrass geek, Adam Tanner immersed himself in Feast and in Bill Monroe's early sound, chock full of long lines of tremolo, rhythmic stabs of melody and explorations of the chop, which, by 1945, would define the style.

    But it was a live Monroe take, recorded with Doc Watson on April 18, 1964, at Oberlin College, of an original called "Lonesome Moonlight Waltz," that would be a game changer for Tanner, who found, in its minor key groove, the European roots of the instrument — not the familiar Scots Irish fiddle tunes of the southern hills, but the ethereal, off-kilter keen of the Balkans and the trilling Italian origins of the mandolin.

    It's those elements that inform Tanner's new disc, A State of Grace, which also nods to influential works like the ethnic Americana of Andy Statman's Flatbush Waltz and the composed, fully-arranged grace of the undersung Norman Blake-led Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South.

    Tanner, who plays old time fiddle, guitar and mandolin, spent much of the early 90s grinding out loud, politically radical ...
    by Published on Jul-17-2018 7:30am  Views: 56661 
    Playback - D'Addario's String Recycling In a Nutshell


    When D'Addario recently announced they'd met and surpassed their goal of recycling 2 million strings as part of "Playback," the world's leading string recycling program, we decided to dig a little deeper into the program and share that success story with our readers.

    For those looking for a better result than seeing your old strings end up in the trash, the program and act of recycling couldn't be easier.

    All it costs is your time to join Playback (part of D'Addario's Players Circle loyalty program) and their free postage option:

    1. Collect a minimum of 2 lbs of strings, pack them
    ...
    by Published on Jul-10-2018 1:30pm  Views: 49179 
    Barbara Shultz

    Tucked neatly away beneath the Mandolin Cafe Forum, out of sight and mind of most of the community, a group of mandolinists gather daily in search of new music, new skills, new ideas, new videos.

    Tunes are shared, written music and MP3s are exchanged, advice doled out, suggestions are given and accepted. A complete musical community that is at once supportive, encouraging and friendly. This is not your typical internet social gathering.

    Meet "The Song-A-Week Social Group."

    Barbara Shultz, Mandolin Cafe member since April, 2005 is the group leader responsible for what we think is the single best, most effective and supportive "social group" of mandolinists on the internet.
    ...
    by Published on Jun-09-2018 9:00am  Views: 20830 
    After 30 Years in Business Retrofret Moving to New Location


    We profiled Retrofret Vintage Guitars about five years ago as part of our visit to the city. Thirty-five years in the business has established the shop and its owner, Steve Uhrik, as among the nation's elite dealers of vintage instruments, both electric and acoustic. And now comes news that the shop is moving to a new location. We asked Brooklyn resident Bradley Klein to check out the new digs.
    ...
    by Published on Mar-25-2018 5:30pm  Views: 18925 
    Tunefox


    The advent of the internet heralded a wide variety of ways for us to embrace and learn the language of music. From video subscription services to one-on-one video lessons, web sites and apps, the number of ways students engage in education is vast. Much of this is not new, but can be confusing. As part of a conversation with Tunefox CEO and Founder Bennett Sullian we found an individual that communicated clearly and viewed an opportunity ...
    by Published on Mar-12-2018 9:00am  Views: 21098 
    Article Preview

    In 1969, Queens native Stan Werbin blew into Ann Arbor, Michigan with just one thing on his mind — biochemistry. Werbin was enrolled as a graduate student at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and while the degree materialized, it never got used. Instead, folk music called his name, even harder than when he bought his first Guild F-20 from Sam Ash on New York's famed 48th Street.

    While knocking out the occasional open mike tune ("we called them hootenannies") at the city's canonical coffeehouse The Ark, Werbin, along with his then partner Sharon McInturff, started haunting flea markets and ringing numbers in penny-savers. They were on the hunt for old guitars.

    Ann Arbor, already ripe with music stores, seemed stifling. The collection grew, and soon enough, the duo landed in East Lansing, where on July 5, 1972, Werbin hung a shingle outside a basement door with a new, telling name — Elderly Instruments.

    Now, ...
    by Published on Nov-19-2017 5:45pm  Views: 24458 
    Emory Lester


    Emory Lester has been a notable fixture in the acoustic mandolin world for the past four decades, and is an innovator of mandolin technique and renowned creative artist, multi-instrumentalist, and instructor. His large body of recorded work has placed him among the elite mandolinists of our time. He has inspired and influenced many of our current generation's mandolin players, and pointed the way with his clean, clear, fast and efficient mandolin technique.

    Emory has performed across the U.S., Canada, Europe, U.K. and Czech Republic, with Clawgrass banjoist Mark Johnson, Wayne Taylor and Appaloosa, his own Emory Lester Set, his Emory Lester & Jill Jones Band, as well as a roster of famous notables such as Del McCoury, Tony Rice, Steve Martin (on the David Letterman Show), Babik Reinhardt (son of Django), and recently Jim Hurst, to name a few.

    He has produced a long and impressive body of recorded works of his own music and with many others, with two new releases, Mark Johnson & Emory Lester - Acoustic Milestones 20 Years, and Emory Lester with Special Guest Jill Jones - On Christmas Night, as well as his recently released At Dusk solo recording, all showcasing Emory's musical creativity, and skill as a mandolinist/multi-instrumentalist.

    A sought-after instructor of mandolin, banjo and guitar, Emory has a world-wide roster of online students subscribed to his one-on-one Skype lesson program.

    Teaching since 1978, his unique and thorough approach to training his students has yielded countless success stories, ...
    by Published on Aug-02-2017 2:00pm  Views: 26757 
    Ted Heinonen and Jethro Burns

    Author Ted Heinonen with Jethro Burns

    NOTE: this interview was recorded in the studios of KUMD-FM of Duluth, Minnesota, July 1, 1988 for the Saturday Folk Migrations show, and later published in print in the Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time​ Music Association (MBOTMA) magazine after Jethro passed. It is reprinted here with the authors' permission.

    Jethro Burns was in Duluth performing for the 1988 Lake Superior Fiddle Contest. That same Friday evening Jethro conducted a Mandolin Workshop I had arranged. It was an entertaining and instructive evening for the thirteen students, one that will be long remembered by all those who were there.

    It's not often that one gets the chance to learn and jam with a performer so open and warm. My last class session with my mandolin students, whom I teach through community schools, was the Monday following Jethro's passing, one student remarked, "We should all be wearing black." I said that I didn't think Jethro
    ...
    by Published on Jun-18-2017 4:30pm  Views: 22989 
    Jenni Lyn Gardner


    Nashville-based Jenni Lyn Gardner is best known as the mandolinist for Boston bluegrass queens Della Mae. But she's been playing since childhood and went pro in her teens. At age nine, precocious and pretty, she played a tune backstage with Bill Monroe, who pronounced, "Little girl, one day you are going to be a star."

    She joined Della Mae in 2009, relocating from South Carolina to Massachusetts. Her deeply rhythmic playing anchored an early e.p. and three full albums, but recently the band went on hiatus (while still performing the occasional show), leaving time for other pursuits. While Gardner—who, along with other band members, headed to Tennessee after too many Northeast winters—is still considering some type of future release with her Palmetto Bluegrass Band side project, she used this opportunity to craft a solo debut disc, Burn Another Candle, under the moniker Jenni Lyn.
    ...
    by Published on Jun-04-2017 2:45pm  Views: 21274 
    Bill Monroe Interview in Denver

    February 19, 1986, Bill Monroe and The Bluegrass Boys had traveled to Denver, Colorado for a performance. For two lifelong fans — radio personality Dave Higgs and videojournalist Scott Wright — it would be their first opportunity to interview the man whose music they'd listened to most of their lives.

    Learning that Monroe was about to be reunited with his famed mandolin that had been badly damaged in an act of vandalism, the two made plans to travel to Nashville the following week to video Monroe being reunited at the Gibson factory with his July 9, 1923 Lloyd Loar mandolin. In the process ...
    by Published on May-17-2017 1:00pm  Views: 36777 
    Charlie Derrington Interview

    February 25, 1986 shortly after Bill Monroe was reunited with his July 9, 1923 Lloyd Loar signed Gibson F-5 mandolin (serial #73987) post-repair, photojournalist Scott Wright and Dave Higgs captured the following Charlie Derrington interview at the Gibson factory where the work on the mandolin was performed.

    As with other videos from the Scott Wright collection, this is the first public viewing and due to the important historical nature of the video it has been left ...
    by Published on May-14-2017 3:30pm  Views: 21097 
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    Though Tim Connell didn't come from a musical family, his interest in music was quite voracious, even from an early age. Connell began classical piano lessons at seven, which included music theory. He taught himself guitar in middle school and by the time he made it to high school, he played piano in the jazz band, bass in the musical theater orchestra, and guitar in a garage band.

    He went on to earn his Masters Degree in Music Education from the New England Conservatory of Music. Music has been his life.

    I first saw Tim Connell in a YouTube video, which was him playing solo jazz on his mandolin. I looked up his website and saw that he lived in Portland, Oregon, which is where I live. My first chance to hear him live was during a happy hour set of choro music he was playing with Mike Burdette on guitar in a downtown Portland hotel. From the beginning, it was obvious that Connell is talented, energetic, and somewhat humble.
    ...
    by Published on May-07-2017 5:30pm  Views: 24565 
    Bill Monroe Farm Interview - February 25, 1986


    This is the second and third in a series of videos from the Scott Wright collection surrounding the events of Bill Monroe receiving his mandolin post-repair from Gibson, February 25, 1986.

    Because of the historical importance of the content, the videos have been left intact as filmed. This includes the opening seconds of video 1 which has a bit of static but clears up as Monroe is walking towards his barn.

    The two videos here consist of Monroe being interviewed at his farm by Dave Higgs with Scott Wright behind the camera. The footage opens with Monroe walking about the farm, calling his cows, petting one of his cats and chatting with Higgs.

    This is followed by the interview which is split between the two videos due to the filming technology of the time, ...
    by Published on Apr-30-2017 5:15pm  Views: 49904 
    Scott Wright tape #7 - Bill Monroe receives his mandolin from Gibson, February 25, 1986


    On February 25, 1986 Bill Monroe traveled to the Gibson factory to reclaim his cherished mandolin more than three months after a vandal smashed it to pieces with a fireplace poker.

    The story is well known and has been documented so many times it would be impossible to calculate.

    Black and white photos were published by The Tennessean last year.

    31 years later, it's time we see the video.

    For this we can thank bluegrass fan and musician Scott Wright who was working for a Denver television station in 1986. ...
    by Published on Mar-14-2017 10:15am  Views: 34784 
    Mike Compton

    Mike Compton has been a force in the world of bluegrass mandolin since the 1980s when he co-founded the influential Nashville Bluegrass Band.

    In the years since, he's played on the soundtrack to the Coen Brother's movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou, and traveled the world performing with notable musical partners, including John Hartford.

    A leading proponent of Monroe-style mandolin, his keen interest in bluegrass music's past and future makes him an indispensable part of the eight-string community.

    Visiting New York last year, he teamed up with guitarist, Michael Daves for a gig at Rockwood Music Hall.

    Writer and video-producer, Bradley Klein was moved by that performance to investigate the history of one tune that has become closely identified with Compton — "Evening Prayer Blues."

    Read More Read More 37 Comments

    by Published on Feb-27-2017 6:45pm  Views: 36685 
    Elisa Meyer Ferreira


    About the author: Dan Beimborn is the host of the Mandolin Archive, and Chief Linux mommy for the Mandolin Cafe's dedicated web server. He also plays Irish and American music on all sorts of vintage Gibson mandolins, a modern F5, a resonator tenor guitar, and a Sobell bouzouki. Sometimes known to stay on a canal barge close to London, he also calls a village near Norwich, England home. He shares a house with his wife, son, dog Henry, and cat George. Weekdays see him working on highly technical Linux solutions for a multi-national hedge fund.

    I first met Elisa Meyer in 2011, near Montpellier, France at the Mandolines de Lunel festival. I was teaching Irish mandolin that year, and Elisa was performing with her family band Choro das 3. Elisa and her father appeared in the back of the classroom one day, and they stayed after to ask questions and compare mandolins. I was quite surprised at how quickly she could pick up the techniques, until I heard the full band perform later! All of the musicians in the audience were stunned at the complex arrangements and her incredibly fast, accurate playing. During jam sessions, we swapped mandolins for a time. I was taken at how similar her Brazilian bandolim was to the sound of a "celtic" instrument, a lot of emphasis on sustain and a big round note.

    Choro das 3 has been very busy as a band, touring widely in the USA in recent years. Facebook friends began to link their videos, and I realized it was the same family I had met in Lunel. These ...
    by Published on Jan-29-2017 6:30pm  Views: 17549 
    Bobby Osborne in studio

    L-R: Bob Osborne (bass), Stuart Duncan (fiddle), Trey Hensley (guitar), Alison Brown (banjo/producer), Arthur Hancock (songwriter), Bobby Osborne, Sierra Hull (mandolin, vocals), Gordon Hammond (engineer), Todd Phillips (bass). Photo credit: Stacie Huckaba

    About the author: Roots scholar and multi-instrumentalist Michael Eck is a respected songwriter; a nationally exhibited painter; and an award-winning cultural critic and freelance writer. He is also a member of Ramblin Jug Stompers, Lost Radio Rounders, Berkshire Ramblers and the Frank Jaklitsch Trio.

    Even prior to his groundbreaking role alongside younger brother Sonny in The Osborne Brothers, Bobby Osborne was bending the rules. A singer first and a picker second, Osborne called country music (with an Ernest Tubb obsession and work in combos like Lonesome Pine Fiddlers) home before bluegrass, and later helped bring rock elements in to the sounds of both genres.

    Today, at 85, ...
    by Published on Nov-30-2016 6:30pm  Views: 11779 
    Mandolins Heal The World

    There's a new online educational resource for mandolin players, and one you should know more about. Mandolins Heal the World is a start-up from Don Julin that takes a fresh approach to learning.

    Author of the best-selling Mandolin For Dummies and Mandolin Exercises for Dummies for Wiley Publishing, Julin left the road as part of a popular touring act last year and informed us he was in the process of creating a new online educational resource designed for mandolin players, one for which he felt there was a strong need. ...
    by Published on Oct-11-2016 8:00pm  Views: 17014 
    John Reischman - Music From Up In The Woods Transcriptions




    The original Up In The Woods album cover
    One of the unmistakable highlights of 1999 in acoustic music was John Reischman's Up In The Woods.

    An alumni of San Francisco's popular The Good 'Ol Persons and later The Tony Rice Unit, John was already recognized as one of the finest mandolin players of his generation. Up In The Woods was yet another display of his remarkable playing and composition skills.

    Up In The Woods remains an important classic in traditional music and inspires mandolinists to this ...
    by Published on Sep-18-2016 5:30pm  Views: 13878 
    Ethan Setiawan


    Berklee College of Music student Ethan Setiawan is a rising young star honing his already considerable musical skills within the rich Berklee College of Music scene.

    Ethan just announced the release of Checkpoint, a collection of solo mandolin and mandocello tunes out September 30 to complement previous recordings with Julian Pinelli and Theory Expats.

    We'd been hearing good things about his music for several years, and the release of Checkpoint seemed the perfect time to shine the light on his accomplishments and diverse musical tastes.

    Originally from Goshen, Indiana, Ethan won the Walnut Valley National Mandolin Championship in 2014 and has now entered his second year at ...

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